Tips & Tools Weekly (Vol. 17, No. 16)

Do You Speak LISP? When it comes to CAD code, Hot Tip Harry knows a good tip when he sees it! Use the "Submit Tip" button below to send us your LISP routines. If we publish your tip, you'll earn a $25 gift card you can use to purchase a T-shirt or other prizes in the Cadalyst Store.

Export Layer Properties to a Spreadsheet Frequent tipster Danny Korem explains how to export AutoCAD layer properties to a spreadsheet. "With this method, you can create an Excel spreadsheet out of your Layer Properties Manager to distribute to the design team." View the complete tip and post your feedback.

Units, Areas, and Acaddoc.LSPC. Frank Kellogg shares two small bits of code that he uses to quickly switch the "read-out" units for text in AutoCAD. "This is a nice bit of simple code," said Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton. "They are just macros, but they quickly set your units to the settings you want to use. You could edit these to fit any of your unit needs." View the complete tip and post your feedback.

Extra Features of the Middle Mouse ButtonNick Antonov, a senior GIS draughtsman, discusses using the third mouse button in AutoCAD. "I double-click the middle button on a three-button mouse to zoom extents. When mice equipped with a scroll wheel came out, I started using the middle button to pan too — just press and hold the middle button and move about your drawing." View the complete tip and post your feedback.

Inventor Tip: Apply Constraints in InventorDavid Gaskill, a CAD designer, sent in an Autodesk Inventor tip about applying constraints to an assembly. "Have you ever had components in an assembly placed at the correct location without constraints, and wanted to add a constraint without having the part move?" View the complete tip and post your feedback.

Review Cadalyst's Tip Submission Guidelines, then Submit Your Tip for your favorite CAD software. If we publish your tip, you'll earn a gift card you can use to purchase a T-shirt or other prizes in the Cadalyst Store. Please remember to submit only code and other tips that are your original work (or provide the original source so we can include proper credit) and to tell us which software version you use.

By submitting code, you grant Cadalyst the right to print and distribute your code in print, digitally, and by other means. Cadalyst and individual authors retain all rights to the code; published code is not to be used for commercial purposes.

Got Feedback? To share feedback about one of today's tips, navigate to the tip using the link provided above, then click Comment. The Comment tool is available to registered users of Cadalyst'sCAD Tips site.

Tips & Tools Weekly software tips for AutoCAD are reviewed in the latest version of AutoCAD by Contributing Editor Brian Benton. Use all tips at your own discretion, please. We're sorry, but Cadalyst staff cannot provide assistance with technical problems. Please refer to Cadalyst's LinkedIn and Facebook communities for assistance with AutoLISP and other AutoCAD customization questions.

C.ideas Garners FDM Award from Additive Manufacturing OrganizationC.ideas, a 3D printing service provider, won the the first FDM Dinosaur Award for its fused deposition modeling (FDM) expertise. AMUG (Additive Manufacturing Users Group) board members presented the award at the 2012 Additive Manufacturing Users Group Conference, held April 22–26 in Costa Mesa, California.

Introduction to Vuuch May 30, 2012 3 p.m. ET This webinar will explain how product development teams can use Vuuch to help optimize communication and get products to market more quickly. Read more

SIGGRAPH 2012 August 5–9, 2012 Los Angeles, California Now in its 39th year, the SIGGRAPH conference is an international event focused on computer graphics and interactive techniques. The event, which includes a three-day commercial exhibition, is expected to draw more than 20,000 professionals involved in research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web. Read more

Autodesk University 2012 November 27–29, 2012 Las Vegas, Nevada Autodesk University (AU), a conference and exhibition for Autodesk product users, will bring together design and technology professionals for networking, exhibits, innovation forums, and a new curriculum of more than 800 lectures, roundtable sessions, and hands-on labs. AU members may register beginning August 28, 2012; registration will open to all users on September 5. Read more

For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com. Are you hosting an event that you would like to include in our calendar? Submit details at least two weeks in advance to news@cadalyst.com.

Cadalyst Poll: How Much Did You Spend on Your CAD Workstation? Do you ever wonder how much money your peers spend on their CAD systems? Simply scroll to the bottom of the Cadalyst home page and vote in the latest Cadalyst poll to find out! You can even bookmark the results page and come back later, to see how the results change as more voters weigh in.

CADspeed Blog Post:Use of Point Clouds for Revit Modeling Here at CADspeed, we've touted the need for CAD hardware that will get the job done. We are equally intrigued by the growing use of building information modeling (BIM) in our industry, which requires even more hardware capacity and usage power than standard CAD programs. Read more

NCS: Common Language for CAD Users Version 5 of the U.S. National CAD Standard is available in an online, searchable format to further streamline collaboration at every stage of a building project. Read more

Cadalyst and Leica Geosystems Webcast: Point Clouds for Revit Modeling In "Optimize the Use of Point Clouds for Revit Modeling," attendees will learn about the basics of 3D laser scanning of as-built structures, how to prepare point cloud models, and how to optimize the use of point clouds within a Revit workflow. Read more

About the Author: Cadalyst Staff

Note: Comments are moderated and will appear live after approval by the site moderator.

AutoCAD Tips!

Autodesk Technical Evangelist Lynn Allen guides you through a different AutoCAD feature in every edition of her popular "Circles and Lines" tutorial series. For even more AutoCAD how-to, check out Lynn's quick tips in the Cadalyst Video Gallery. Subscribe to Cadalyst's free Tips & Tools Weekly e-newsletter and we'll notify you every time a new video tip is published. All exclusively from Cadalyst!Follow Lynn on Twitter